DOKIC TELLS OF DARK DAYS
JELENA Dokic almost committed suicide following years of abuse from her father, she revealed in Geelong yesterday.
The former tennis prodigy — who stormed into the 1999 Wimbledon quarter-finals at just 16 — spoke at Geelong’s Word for Word Festival following last week’s release of her autobiography Unbreakable.
The book details the harrowing physical and emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of her father Damir.
“The blow to the head fells me and as I lie on the floor he starts kicking me. He kicks me near my ear and my vision blurs,” an extract from the book recounts.
“I pass out but when I come to he makes me stand again, my head is aching. For the next round of torture he makes me stand still then he kicks me in the shin with the sharp toe dress shoes he’s wearing.”
Yesterday Jelena said: “He was the main character, I guess, of the book. He put me through pretty much hell.”
While much of the autobiography focuses on Damir, it also delves into the effect he had on his daughter, particularly after she fled the family in 2002.
“My Dad really made life difficult for me when I left — I had really bad depression and almost committed suicide due to that, which I think is also a very, very important thing to talk about in this book,” she said.
“I didn’t know for a long time that I was depressed, and that that was what it is, because it really hits you, and you don’t know what’s going on. I don’t think I ever really fully recovered.
“Once you’ve had depression it’s a daily struggle for the rest of your life.”
Writing Unbreakable with Jess Halloran was a cathartic experience, Jelena said.
“This book has been a lot better for me than I thought it would be, as tough as it was sometimes writing it almost reliving those bad moments,” she said. “I talk about a lot of very important things, being a refugee, racism, discrimination, and obviously the physical, emotional and verbal abuse.”
Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.